Dischem 21km 2014

The first 21km race of the year was great.

I finally managed to be a little more organized this year and got an entry for the Dischem 21km 2014 race. You need to get in early to secure an entry for this race as it fills up early.

I didn’t find this race that tough apart from a major hill just before the end. Before the race started Brad Brown the commentator pumped up the crowd and the national anthem was played which seemed to be a bit much for a half marathon. The race started with a loud bang, which sounded like a cannon. We then moved through Bedfordview which was quite a sight as this race is huge in attendance. I only felt like the field started to spread out after half way!

After the last water point you run down an extremely long downhill to the finish. I was surprised at how long and steep this last section was which hurt the knees.

I wish I could run faster downhill because unfortunately my official time was 2:00:50, that is 50s over what I was hoping to crack.

I liked the animated and loud water points where we got coke and water. At the finish we got a medal and a well deserved powerade. Parking was a bit of a mission as we had to park pretty far from the start. With the entry we got a t-shirt which looks quite nice and a goody bag stuffed with magazines and soaps. The race also used the ChampionChip timing device the same one used for the Comrades, so a couple hours after the race I got a SMS with my time. Being a huge race there is also seeding pens A to F, so make sure you don’t enter a slow finishing time when you enter otherwise you’ll start at the back.

My brother, stuffed (don’t tell him his photo is online)

The Route: GPX File